Prepped and Coping

Over the last day or two, our weather has cooled and we've had much needed rain.  Today's morning showers, swirling grey clouds and stiff breezes makes it look like Mother Nature is practicing for September, a mere 10 days away.

With cooler weather and the sense that autumn's creeping in comes a renewed Sense of Purpose and a determination to Get Things Done that I welcome after a summer of strained emotions coupled with uncertainty about Where I Go From Here.

Yesterday was mostly about prep:

The garden-fresh beans my sis gave me on Sunday were prepped for blanching and freezing:

I prepped my luncheon omelette:

And I prepped my materials for another series of miniatures at the request of one of "my" galleries -- Different Strokes in Olds -- which re-opens in September after a summer of renovations and roadwork:

Foundations prepped

Sketchbook, inspirational photos, fabrics...

I prepped my "10 x 10: The Unknown Artist" silent auction piece -- now it's ready to hang at the Preview which is Wednesday evening, September 24, at the Lacombe Memorial Centre:

Special thanks to Susan Lenz who is a framer as well as a textile artist, and who gave great advice recently about this sort of hanging paraphernalia on the SAQA Yahoo Group.  :-)

I also did more work on the Japanese Taupe Quilt.  Not liking all the blank space of plain blocks, I auditioned strip-pieced-and-plain four-patches instead:

A. -  Five plain blocks in the centre -- see?

B. - Auditioning 4-patches -- see?

Today?  "Prep" became "WIPs" or "Almost Finished":

This mini is almost there -- but I ran out of the colour of thread I need to create some motion in the sky:

Mini #1 - "There's One in Every Crowd"

This one just needs stitching of the evergreen, and trimming:

Mini #2 - "Sailor's Delight" - WIP

And the Japanese Taupe Quilt is coming together -- because I'm coping!  I discovered my math on the 4-patches was a tad "out", so...instead of starting over, I added narrow coping strips to the blocks and will incorporate them thus:

JTQ - Pieced Section #1 - Rows 1 & 2 (of 5) on design wall

Tomorrow?  I work at the shop, so the studio will have to wait till Friday.  Meanwhile, I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network -- let's see what others are up to, shall we?  :-)

P.S.  

• Finished this as a shop sample -- the Bollard Shrug from Berroco, in Weekend Chunky yarn:

Bollard Shrug - Self Portrait!

• SAQA colleague and cyber-friend Susan Lenz (she of the hanging apparatus tutorial) was in Portland, OR, this past weekend for the "Quilt! Knit! Stitch!" show, and saw my piece in the "Coming Up Roses" exhibit.  She had her husband, Steve, photograph her with my piece...see below (used with permission).  I'm thrilled to bits!

So lovely when someone known to you actually recognizes your work!

Now I've Gone and Done It

For almost 2 months you've heard me hint about "that roses piece" or "the Mackintosh piece" I've been working on.  I've shared a bit of the process, and snips of photos of it under construction.

I'm pleased to announce that -- it's finally finished! AND this morning -- just a few moments ago, in fact -- I entered the piece in "Coming Up Roses", one of the "Quilt! Knit! Stitch!" (R) Calls for Entry, about which I received an e-mail 'way back in January.

This is the most major juried event I've ever entered.

It carries the possibility of "Houston" with it.

Am I nuts?!

Roses in Calgary, 2007

Maybe...or not.  But I was captivated -- definitely captivated -- by the theme and by the fact that I at last felt I could work in the minimum size required -- 25" x 25" (thanks to my Fifteen by Fifteen group!).  For some time now I've longed to do something with the motif of the Glasgow Rose, made popular by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) and, well, I dug out a photo of a bouquet from the garden I had in Calgary (my roses here in Mirror are still finding their feet, as it were)...and the rest is history.


Last night a photographer came to shoot the finished quilt, and the process was complete.  The photos were in my e-mail this morning.  I saved copies with the required naming convention, completed the on-line application and pressed "SUBMIT".  Then I began to breathe again (grin).

Mackintosh's Garden: Hardy to Zone 3 (C) 2014
27.5" W x 27.5" L

The entry deadline for this Call is May 2, 2014, and entrants will be notified by June 6th.  Selected pieces have to arrive in Houston by July 8th, for the opening in Portland, OR, in mid-August.  Pieces could travel until July 2015.

Say a wee prayer; send 'good vibes'; wish me luck -- whatever!   You'll be the first to know!

Canadian Quilters

do well at the Houston International Quilt Association Festival!

Kathy Wylie of Whitby, Ontario, won the Founders' Award with her beautiful piece, "Flourish", inspired by the New Testament scripture passage from John 15:5:

I am the vine; you are the branches.

If you remain in Me and I in you,

you will bear much fruit;

apart from Me you can do nothing.

Comfort, beauty, clarity, elegance...Congratulations, Kathy!

And my colleague, Mary Pal, of Ottawa Ontario won an Honourable Mention in the Art: People, Portraits and Figures category, for her beautiful portrait of Jane Goodall entitled "Memories of Gombe".  Well done, MP!